2D Holiday snaps in 3D - with the Looking Glass Go
Added 2024-09-18 19:15:05 +0000 UTCMy new video is finally ready to share.
Remember digital picture frames? Well they're back and can now show your 2D photos in 3D.
This is just a temporary thumbnail (not any more). I thought it better to share this video now, rather than have you wait while I twiddle my thumbs.
I should really get to work on a Patreon update video soon, but I might need to wait for more interesting things to occur otherwise it could be a rather brief chat. We’ll see. In the meantime take care and have a good week.
UPDATED
Made a few tiny tweaks to the video before it goes live. The new version is the one embedded and linked to above.
Comments
From what I've seen over the years, most people haven't figured out the simple fact that you can rotate the phone for better pictures. Just look at footage provided by the public used in news broadcasts and how the show has to add an effect on the left and right because there's otherwise nothing there to show due to portrait orientation. It makes me scream at the screen and say, "Turn the damn phone, people! It's not rocket science!" Rant over.
Arthur Robillard
2024-09-25 03:27:41 +0000 UTCFair enough. My mother was a big pressure cooker fan and I didn't know about these modern versions until recently.
Giles Jones
2024-09-24 10:30:16 +0000 UTCThey’ve never really appealed to me. It did feel though like there was a bit of a craze for them a couple of years ago and I’d imagine that there were a lot of extensive reviews made around that time. I think nowadays they’ve probably become a bit too familiar to warrant a new review. That and there’s so many meal types to demo it would be a mammoth task to try and cover them all.
Techmoan
2024-09-24 10:08:07 +0000 UTCAs you've not done any kitchen gadgets for a while, have you thought of reviewing one of these modern pressure cookers? https://instantpot.co.uk/shop-all-products/instant/cooking-appliances/multi-cookers/instant-pot-duo-plus-whisperquiet-multicooker/
Giles Jones
2024-09-24 09:36:04 +0000 UTCI liked digital photo frames. I had a bit of a fight because of the cable at home, as it looked ugly. Also the firmware was god awful too. I still hope to find one with a decent size and a decent screen that won't make you puke when you set the dimmer and has a sensible slideshow mode. Of you people know of one,let me know
Raul Ramos
2024-09-21 20:19:42 +0000 UTCOh, you worry not, they'll crank it up
Raul Ramos
2024-09-21 20:17:20 +0000 UTCThis reminds me of the RED Hydrogen One phone. Its big party trick was a 3D display (backed up with a camera that took 3D photos). It came and went quickly, despite having a lot of nice features. I wonder if your Looking Glass came about when a quantity of displays manufactured for the RED became available at well below cost? The screen size and dimensions seem similar.
Andy Ihnatko
2024-09-21 18:11:52 +0000 UTCI’d be absolutely livid if I spent money a photo frame whose entire selling point was a 3D display, only to find that if I want to display the equivalent of a single roll of film, I need to pay them $100 a year in perpetuity. It’s pure extortion how all of these tech companies refuse to make hardware that will do 100% of what it advertises without signing up for a “subscription.” Same goes with these pay-per-page printers or whatever they are. Sell me a product that works in my own damn home without some cloud server checking to see whether my credit card is valid.
C.J. Malm
2024-09-21 12:10:00 +0000 UTCThe phone camera seems to have almost eliminated the far more pleasing landscape mode with people under a certain age… and it drives me crazy! While I may only see this as an overpriced novelty to display those portrait snaps- I do appreciate there are people out there creating new gadgets. They are not all going to be home runs. Loved the video as always!
Andrew Shaw
2024-09-20 04:11:13 +0000 UTCOne of my upcoming projects is to go through and set up some of the more than a dozen digital photo frames I've picked up at various thrift stores. One nice thing about getting them now is you can find the expensive higher res models pretty cheap. I think you're exactly right and it is the admin that killed them, though.
Chris
2024-09-20 02:37:34 +0000 UTCWell, would you look at that! I randomly saw this thing on YouTube last week and was thinking of buying one to review in a video. I believe it's a pretty basic 3D monitor, based on long-standing 3D printing technology. I’ll watch your video first, so maybe I won’t end up buying it 😄
MVVblog
2024-09-20 00:02:46 +0000 UTCThe mention of "8-bit color depth" caught me off guard because if that was actually true, it would only be displaying 256 colors! But what they actually meant was 8 bits in each of the three primary color channels (red, green, and blue), which adds up to give you 24-bit color with a total of 16.7 million possible colors displayed.
VWestlife
2024-09-19 22:30:58 +0000 UTCI'm sure the lasr one would look great in AI. The best IMAX film I ever saw was the GCI Fantasia type thing done in conjunction with Intel.
Duncan
2024-09-19 21:02:35 +0000 UTCI still have mine on the wall. Still update the pics from time to time.
Graham Shaw
2024-09-19 21:00:39 +0000 UTCAhh yes, buying 'just' a product isn't enough these days! Gotta lock you in with a subscription or an 'eco-system'!
antzpantz
2024-09-19 18:17:07 +0000 UTCMat shows another interesting gadget that I don't need and don't want 😉. Good to have a pre-taster 😁.
MrHammond
2024-09-19 17:59:45 +0000 UTCI also got one of these in a Kickstarter and I pretty much agree what was said about it in this video. I bought it mostly because "it's neat", but I also because I sometimes deal with 3D stuff and I wanted one as a display for that. I haven't yet set that up, but supposedly they are actually pretty good for that. I did also read some speculation that these might be more of a tech demo than an actual product. The company sells large (and expensive) 3D displays for use by various folks needing 3D visualization - various industrial uses. Problem is that it is hard to demonstrate and sell a tech like this through normal marketing. So getting somebody an inexpensive "demo" piece might be a good marketing tactic. The picture frame function is more of a gimmick than anything else. As for regular digital picture frames - we actually have one mounted in the kitchen showing our family photos. It's nice to sometimes just look at them while eating lunch or something.
roli
2024-09-19 17:28:11 +0000 UTCI didn’t notice anything about ongoing fees, but it could well have been somewhere in the footnotes of the kickstarter. I didn’t look at the pro fees either - but now I have. Golly.
Techmoan
2024-09-19 16:04:43 +0000 UTCGlasses free 3D screens rely on the left and right eye seeing different images to one another, they do this with a lenticular screen, effectively tiny angled vertical blinds running from the top to the bottom of the screen across its full width. Rotating this type of screen on its side doesn’t work because both eyes would then see both the L&R images.
Techmoan
2024-09-19 16:01:55 +0000 UTCPortrait. I immediately want to uppercut someone in the sack. Ideally the designer. However, I realise that, due to the lens, the screen has to be more narrow than your pupil distance.
evilution
2024-09-19 15:12:22 +0000 UTCWouldn't work.
evilution
2024-09-19 15:10:17 +0000 UTCOne problem with lenticular displays is that they only work in one direction. When doing lenticular prints, you can align the film in any orientation, but LCDs are stuck. Turn it on its side and you only see one "slice" ie the image in 2D. Also, regardless of the spec Mat quoted, it seems quite low res, almost certainly those pixels are spread thin over the total number of slices (ten or more?). The only vertical orientation lenticular 3D LCD panel I ever owned happened to be my 2003 model Sharp Docomo flip phone, a device which would convert 2D shots into 3D with some basic user input - there was even a 3D bass fishing game pre-installed (IIRC only the cut-scene animation when you caught a fish put the screen into 3D mode)! WTF Japan FTW.
Chris Browne
2024-09-19 13:45:21 +0000 UTCCould one use a landscape image, rotate it, apply the 3D effect then stand the device on it's side, with the "play, pause" buttons now facing up and on "top."
Alec
2024-09-19 12:18:26 +0000 UTCI supose you could only subscribe to the app every now and then to refresh your photos, but as Matt said, seems alot of hassell for something thats more a novalty. Photos we have on display are usually our wedding ones and ones with family that are no longer with us, so not likely to replace those pictures regularly.
Tim Barker
2024-09-19 10:30:34 +0000 UTCDigital picture frames are awesome to use in escape room puzzles - where you remove the polariser and then hide that somewhere
Rik Kershaw-Moore
2024-09-19 10:14:14 +0000 UTCI'm 100% with you on this one, Mat. If nothing else, that fee to create 3D pictures would make it a non-starter for me. Did the Kickstarter warn you of that up front? If not, that's very naughty! Did you spot the fee for the Pro version?! 😵 P.S. Get well soon.
Stephen Bell
2024-09-19 09:49:40 +0000 UTCThis will be a nice paperweight when the app goes offline... The 20 year old frame my parents have still works (but as you said, they don't use it anymore since it's cumbersome to store the photos in the dedicated folder). Let's get back to this one in 2044.
CheeseParis
2024-09-19 06:11:47 +0000 UTCWhen I started doing landscape photography I found vertical VERY unnatural. Poster prints, however (and postcards to a lesser extent) are almost always in the portrait orientation so it became necessary to acclimate to vertical composition, and it took me a good year or two. Now that I have been shooting family pics in 3D with the Fuji W3s for the last couple years the inability to also shoot vertically is... something to get used to. I wonder if this company deals with stereo .mpo files since depth cues could be more accurately calculated? Doing lenticular prints I have been advised to use 10 or more frames, so I typically put a camera on a slider, shoot video left to right, and pull frames from that (there are commercial software solutions to derive intermediate frames, but they are not cheap). Having kept so many images over the years I actually found, to my great surprise, that hundreds (thousands?) of my own slightly offset landscapes actually worked as 3D images, the stumbling block is how to present them now that stereoviewers (3DTVs too!) are long in the past. I came up with a compromise of doing double-sided postcard prints, front is R/B anaglyph and the reverse side a left-right stereo pair, in a set of 10 with a pair of glasses. Our tourist season ends this month, so I will soon find out how well these did (or more likely didn't) sell.
Chris Browne
2024-09-19 05:29:37 +0000 UTCFacebook (sorry for swearing) have a 3D filter for images, but it's very temperamental. I have a nice portrait view of my hand holding a glass of wine overlooking the Alps and little Austrian houses nestled in the distance. I'd always been disappointed by the 2D-ness of that one, the effect and experience of being there totally lost. https://ibb.co/RcHf86y
Brad Jones
2024-09-18 22:53:45 +0000 UTCMy loss of 3D vision really put a dampener on a lot of this stuff, but yes the Sony Bloggie 3D didn't really work well enough. However many years back you're right I did shoot a couple of rolls of Lenticular photos with an ImageTech 3Dfx camera - the cost of processing these was prohibitive for me at the time and there were only a few places that could do the work, but the results could be very effective. If I were to show someone one of those photos today, they'd still be impressed. I'm glad I managed to try that before it all disappeared.
Techmoan
2024-09-18 22:12:27 +0000 UTCIt's incredible how many photos from 170 years ago exhibit great resolution; partially due to extended exposure times.
Grace Robbins
2024-09-18 21:55:53 +0000 UTCMat, I remember the Pocket 3D video you did a while back ( https://youtu.be/tJOdF3B0y7w&t=5m6s ) - was that also a blip in technology as far as 3D goes? And I think you once showed a hologram photo of yourself but I can't locate that video.
Grace Robbins
2024-09-18 21:42:43 +0000 UTCThe all-seeing eye.
Techmoan
2024-09-18 21:37:05 +0000 UTCThis made me start, as I was just looking through my photos taken in 2018 today for the first time since then
Richard Back
2024-09-18 21:33:11 +0000 UTCI'd forgotten about Loreo, I had their 3D lens in a cap which fitted to a film SLR body and worked in a similar way, the results weren't good.
David Peaker
2024-09-18 21:25:49 +0000 UTCI appreciate what they were trying to achieve with this item and it's really cute. It's not my bag for a multitude of irrelevant reasons. However, this video did make me think about all the abstract AI artwork I've been creating, and whether or not it would 3D-render well in this type of application; for example: https://ibb.co/q0sqP1H https://ibb.co/FJX7TqL https://ibb.co/dPQPBM8 https://ibb.co/Br6RVr6 I wouldn't mind having a 16:9 version that doesn't rely on an app or a subscription. Also, does the effect remind anyone else of those hidden objects images that sort of became 3D when you stared at them long enough? That being said, this is a nice little video. The erroneous headless motorcycle rider made me laugh. I love Bees Knees cute tongue photo; and you look so happy in the photo at 12:19 😀. 'Til next time, take care. 🤍
Grace Robbins
2024-09-18 21:17:17 +0000 UTCLenticular 3D
Techmoan
2024-09-18 20:25:16 +0000 UTCFirst impression is that it's an electronic method to create something like those old 3D novelty photos--I don't know the proper name for them--but they were more or less photographs with a fresnel lens on top that can project two different images depending on your viewing angle. Commonly found in souvenir shops at tourist places. Seems as if 3D tech--kind of like those digital picture frames--is something that quickly cycles in and out of fashion from time to time. Think I'll pass on this one--Thanks Mat🙂
Mark Hesse
2024-09-18 20:24:49 +0000 UTCYes the unwanted glare from a digital photo frame screen in the corner of the room while watching a movie on the TV was definitely an issue.
Techmoan
2024-09-18 20:00:46 +0000 UTCInteresting tech, Matt. I remember selling those digital frames when I worked at Radio Shack in the 2000s. They were an item that we took back as returned almost as much as we sold them. It was about that time that the first 3D phone, the HTC Evo 3D, was also sold at the Shack. I actually thought that was a lot cooler. It kind of worked as advertised, and I remember wishing I could buy one. But it wasn't available for the employee phone plans, so I was limited to playing with the demo units when I had any free time. Good video.
CrimsonPig808
2024-09-18 20:00:38 +0000 UTCIf anyone wants a digital photo frame I often see them for sale in charity shops for less than £10. As well as all the admin issues you point out, having a frame burning electricity all the time when we are constantly being told to save energy might have put people off.
Duncan
2024-09-18 19:55:19 +0000 UTCAs far as 3D images go - American Civil War photography was all shot in stereo, and when you view it in a modern VR headset the 3D effect is stunning. I remember the old film 3D viewers as a kid, and they also looked good, but in VR they just have more depth since you can move around to a limited extent, zoom in, etc. I really hope with Apple pushing 3D images and video, we get a new wave of this stuff.
Chris Munch
2024-09-18 19:48:03 +0000 UTCBack in the day I took some 3D pictures with a Vivitar 3D Cam - aka Loreo 321 - this was also very narrow as it combined the L & R images across a single 35mm photo. http://www.loreo.com/pages/products/loreo_321.html
Techmoan
2024-09-18 19:47:42 +0000 UTCI am a big fan of 3D photography and have quite a large viewmaster collection and also a few old 3D film cameras. As you quite rightly point out, 3D is better in landscape format, all of the old cameras take landscape format pictures. The narrowest view is from a Stereo Realist, which is almost square. I guess this device is made for use with smart phones, which are invariably used in portrait format regardless of which is the best way.
David Peaker
2024-09-18 19:42:04 +0000 UTCI wonder if something like this will make more sense in a couple of years, now that all iPhones come with spatial cameras. I assume Android will follow
Bryan Hamill
2024-09-18 19:30:55 +0000 UTC
